People

Nathan Hill

Nathan founded Qi3 in June 1999 on the principle of ethical commitment to technology marketing. He is a specialist in technology commercialisation, business development and growth, knowledge transfer and practical sales and marketing.

More recently Nathan set up Qi3 Ventures, which supports companies via cash and/or management investment. He remains an integral part in running the Qi3 business and continues to support many of our space sector clients, with the rest of his time now as an active investor. He is also Chairman of online wine club Honest Grapes.

Nathan’s skills are in sales, sales management, product marketing, strategic portfolio management, acquisitions and general management in export markets. He works with start-ups and in growth situations and loves practical selling. He has supported over 120 new business-academic partnerships and over 20 start-ups. As a lover of startup situations, corporate change and accelerated organic growth, Nathan is a frequent speaker in the technology commercialisation community. Nathan has an MA in Physics from Oxford and has completed the examinations for an MBA from Warwick.

Nathan started his working life as a salesman for Oxford Instruments in Germany. He moved to Bristol to work as subsidiary manager for a semiconductor equipment manufacturer. He returned to Oxford Instruments as a division Marketing and Strategy Director to propel growth in a static core business. He led development of over 50 new products and portfolio reorganisation, including extensive market development in Japan, the USA and Europe. Nathan then became Managing Director of two Cambridge-based acquisitions for Oxford Instruments and was then briefly Marketing Director of Sagentia (then known as Scientific Generics), before setting up Qi3.

Robin Higgons

Robin is Managing Director of Qi3. He is an experienced business and marketing manager, with a hands on approach to managing growth in high technology businesses.

Robin is heavily involved in leading the business, helping companies to identify new markets via market analysis and advising on product development. He works for clients such as BAE Systems, Unilever and Selex as well as start-ups and SME’s, supporting companies in the commercial exploitation of their new technologies. Robin also leads the Knowledge Exchange activity for the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation.

Robin has a BSc in Chemistry from Manchester University, and an MBA from the University of Liverpool. He also holds the Diploma in Company Direction awarded by the Institute of Directors and Leeds Business School and a wide range of qualifications attained from courses at Harvard, Henley and Stanford Business schools.

Rob Grant

Rob is a Qi3 associate and a highly experienced product development and commercialisation manager having brought numerous new products to market within both large business and SMEs. He is an acknowledged expert in product engineering, the application of chemistry to sensors and instrumentation, gas processing and surface science.

Rob was Head of Technology for Edwards Vacuum, market leader in the supply of gases and equipment to the microelectronics, solar and scientific instrumentation sectors where he had key responsibility for managing the new product introduction lifecycle process and in building collaborative partnerships with customers and technology providers. He is the founder of a number of SMEs including Gas Recovery and Recycle Limited, GR2L, a CleanTech business based on technology from Cambridge University and co-commercialised in partnership with a local SME to recover and recycle argon from Si ingot furnaces serving the solar PV market.

Rob holds an honours degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and a PHD in Catalysis, also from Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Craig Sawyers

Craig is a Qi3 Associate and is highly experienced in technology management and business across a wide range of markets. This has included being a founder or co-founder of a range of successful businesses in professional consultancy (Sagentia), optical sensing (Stratophase), and gas detection technologies (DUVAS). Craig also has recent experience in the space sector (Project manager and technology lead for MIXS, due for launch to Mercury) and in astronomical instrumentation (HROS on Gemini South). One of the three person Evaluation Committee for the Kuwait Prize in Applied Physics.

Craig has a BSc in Electronics and a PhD in laser physics from Southampton University, and is a Member of the Institute of Physics and a Chartered Physicist.

Paul Anson

Paul is a Qi3 Associate having recently been engaged with several start-ups in drug delivery, renewable energy, cleantech, digital printing and fire suppression systems. He is an active mentor within entrepreneurial support organisations including the EEDA Understanding Finance for Business programme and is a member of Cambridge Angels. Paul co-founded Qi3 Ventures with Tim and Nathan in 2010 and the trio have coinvested in numerous companies.

Paul was co-founder and COO of Inca Digital Printers where he created and grew a manufacturing and customer service operation turning over £25M. Prior to that, he worked at Cambridge Consultants, Michelin Tyre plc and Argo Cars. He has 20 years experience as an engineer in complex, high-pressure development environments, together with a wealth of commercial experience in international B2B operations. He also has experience in medical device development, consumer product development, process development, automation and cleantech.

Currently Paul is a non-executive director at Plumis and at Lumejet, a member of the scientific advisory board at Oval Medical and an associate at 42 Technology.

Tim de Vere Green

Tim is a Qi3 Associate. He is CEO of Origin Capital, a leading seed and early-stage investor in UK technology companies. Tim co-founded Qi3 Ventures with Paul and Nathan in 2010 and the trio have coinvested in numerous companies.

Tim’s background is in management consultancy (with Arthur Andersen), investment banking (equities research with BZW), and fund management (through Thames Valley Capital, where he serves as an Investment Director). He has been involved in over 30 early-stage investment transactions and has lead all elements of the transaction process, from deal sourcing through to final legal negotiations.

The sectors in which Tim has invested include power and control electronics, medical devices and biotechnology, mobile software and digital media, and semiconductors. Tim acts as an Observer, NED or Chairman on several investee boards, including Cytox (clinical diagnostics), BluWireless Technology (wireless semiconductors), Lintbells (animal health) and Diabetic Boot Company (medical devices).

Tim holds a first class degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol and an MA in Documentary Film from the University of London.

Rajesh Muru

Rajesh is an Associate with Qi3 serving clients in the Comms and IT sector. His specialism covers assisting clients with Strategic Growth initiatives across Sales and Marketing, Operational, IT Strategy and Investment.

Rajesh particularly has considerable experience in Social Media and Digital, and since the mid 1990s was an early adopter by laying down the foundations in Strategy through Advisory for Technology vendors and End-Users.

He has 20 years+ experience in Strategic Advisory in the Technology sector, both with vendors and End-User Businesses across key industry verticals covering Comms, IT, Finance, Retail, Public Sector and Defence.

Rajesh previously headed the Digital Strategy Practice for a revolutionary Internet-Based Business Advisory. Prior to this he held a number of Senior positions with Global Leading Strategy Companies. This covered leading the Business Advisory Practice for 10 years+ in the UK for Gartner Consulting. He also headed the European Commission’s Innovation Relay Centre (IRC) for East of England and delivered assignments in Advisory whilst at the Technology Broker back in the mid 1990s.

Rajesh’s industry expertise covers holding the position of Project Transformation Director for a leading Software Vendor and Systems Integrator. He has also held various Senior Strategic Marketing positions for Hubbell Incorporated, the global £4 Bill Industrial Systems vendor; and worked as a Systems Engineer for Racal Defence (Radar) Ltd.

Rajesh graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering following an Honours Degree Programme at Nottingham Trent University.

In his past time Rajesh is a keen Footballer, Cricketer and Badminton player. He is also a passionate Musician.